Charges against a Monroe County man for his part in a ring in which a nurse for a Palmerton doctor would forge prescriptions for the drug oxycodone have been bound over to Carbon County Court.

Edward Szczesny, 26, of East Stroudsburg, was scheduled to have a preliminary hearing before District Judge William Kissner of Palmerton on Wednesday.Instead, Szczesny waived his right to a hearing.Szczesny faces charges of possession of a controlled substance, corrupt organizations, and two counts of acquisition or obtaining of possession of controlled substance by misrepresentation, fraud, forgery, deception, or subterfuge.He remains incarcerated in Monroe County Correctional Facility in lieu of $200,000 straight bail.PrescriptionsAccording to the affidavit filed by Brian Rimple, a Narcotics Agent for the Pennsylvania Office of Attorney General:On Oct. 3, 2011, Rimple was at the Rite Aid, 601 Delaware Ave. in Palmerton, on another case when pharmacist Nicole Weller gave him a copy of a possible altered prescription.The prescription was presented on Sept. 26, 2011, and was for 180 tablets of oxycodone 30 mg in the name of Lee Daniel.The prescription was from Dr. Edward Manzella. The 180 appeared to have been changed from 120.Weller said when she called the doctor's office that day to verify, Angela McClain, Dr. Manzella's nurse, confirmed the prescription was good and that she had changed the quantity to 180.Weller said she called back on another day and found out Daniel was not a patient of Manzella's practice at either of his offices in Palmerton or JimThorpe.Rimple spoke with Manzella at his office in Palmerton. Manzella said his nurse, McClain, wrote out the prescription, and he signed it.Manzella called McClain into the kitchen area, and she was shown the prescription in question. McClain said it was an accident, the whole prescription was written wrong, and that the prescription was for Lee Kistler and was supposed to be for 30 tablets of oxycodone, not 180 tablets.Rimple went back to the Rite Aid, and Weller ran a patient profile for Lee Daniel. Three other prescriptions had been filled in Daniel's name from Manzella. One for 120 tablets of oxycodone 30 mg was filled at the Rite Aid in Palmerton. One for 120 tablets of Roxicodone 15 mg and the other for 120 tablets of oxycodone 15 mg were filled at the Rite Aid in Brodheadsville.More prescriptionsOn Oct. 18, 2011, Rimple was contacted by Agent Troy Serfass. The Rite Aid in Brodheadsville had contacted Serfass about two prescriptions from Manzella they thought were fake due to the signature. One was for Szczesny and the other was for Jessica Campbell. Both were for 120 tablets of oxycodone 30 mg.On Oct. 19, 2011, Rimple was contacted by Mark Johnson of CVS in Easton about a bad prescription he had filled overnight. The prescription for 120 tablets of oxycodone 30 mg was written by Dr. Sujatha Muppala from New Jersey, and was for Charles Daniel.McClain said she was having an affair with Szczesny and started providing him prescriptions about six to eight months before, the affidavit says.She said Szczesny was going to tell her husband about the affair if she did not give him prescriptions.McClain said she also wrote prescriptions for Szczesny's friend, Lee Daniel, and that she always filled the prescriptions out and gave them to Szczesny, as they usually met at Country Junction for the exchange.On Oct. 21, 2011, Rimple ran Manzella's DEA number and provided him a list of people who had filled prescriptions for Schedule II drugs from Aug. 1 to Oct. 21, 2011. Manzella said Szczesny, Lee Daniel, Charles Daniel and Campbell were not patients of his.Rimple located 17 prescriptions that were filled under for McClain, Campbell and Szczesny under Manzella's name since May 4, 2011.'Thought she was a doctor'On Feb. 3, 2012, Rimple and Agent Jose Collazo contacted Szczesny at his residence in East Stroudsburg. Szczesny said he was introduced to McClain by his mother, as she and McClain's mother were friends. Szczesny said McClain told him she was a doctor and could write him prescriptions. Szczesny said he had pain due to injuries in his shoulder and wrist, and that he went to McClain's office in Palmerton and filled out the paperwork for a new patient.Szczesny said he filled prescriptions for 120 tablets of oxycodone 30 mg about 10 times. He said McClain would charge him $300 to $500 a prescription, and that he would meet her at the office, either in the early morning or later at night.Szczesny said he was the only person in the office during the visit and he did meet McClain twice at Country Junction to drop off money he owed from prior visits. He referred his girlfriend, Campbell, and his friend, Lee Daniel, to McClain. Szczesny said he did not know McClain was not a doctor.On Feb. 27, 2012, Rimple and Collazo interviewed Lee Daniel, who said he has been friends with Szczesny since the sixth grade. Lee Daniel said Szczesny moved to Philadelphia, and then came back to the area. Lee Daniel said when Szczesny came back to the Poconos, he wanted to make money, and his mother's friend's daughter worked in a doctor's office in Palmerton. Lee Daniel said they would meet McClain at a convenience store in Palmerton and pick up prescriptions, which were always premade out in his name.Lee Daniel said Szczesny also recruited his brother and Szczesny's girlfriend. Lee Daniel said he always gave all of the pills back to Szczesny, who he believed delivered them back to McClain. Lee Daniel said the prescriptions and money always came from Szczesny, who would usually drive them to the pharmacies. Lee Daniel said they would always go out once a month, but Szczesny got greedy and he started to go twice a month.Prescriptions were filled at the CVS in Easton by Campbell, Charles Daniel, and Lee Daniel; at the Kmart Pharmacy at 400 North Best Ave., Walnutport, by McClain; at the Rite Aid at Route 209 and Route 115 in Brodheadsville, by Campbell, Szczesny, and Charles Daniel; at the CVS at Routes 115 and 209 in Brodheadsville, by Campbell, Charles Daniel, and Lee Daniel; and at the First National Pharmacy, 141 N. First St., Lehighton, by Campbell, Charles Daniel and Szczesny.